Finished is way better than perfect!

-unknown

I finished a big project yesterday and did the happy dance. On to the next mountain but today I have to cross a few hills. I am working on some demo boards for classes and lectures. I love to do this but it never fails to take more time than I think. I'm going to hit the ground running and get these small projects off the TO DO list. I'll send photos of my day...

BIG NEWS ..Quiltmaker magazine is hosting a designer blog tour next week November 9-13. I will post all the information on my blog on SUNDAY. There will be many designers participating with give aways and projects along the way. Each day different blogs will be highlighted on the tour. Because I'm so excited to be a part of this I will have a give a way to celebrate. Again I will post all the information about the tour on SUNDAY.....Tour begins Monday....How fun is this???

Cooking in the kitchen....made the best meatloaf and tomato gravy, mashed potatos and green beans...holey moley is that comfort food or what? I gifted my self the new cook book by Ree Drummond aka Pioneer Woman and I have tried 5 recipes from the book.. wooo hoooo is Mr. Quilt Boy in love with me!

Take a look at those babies with bacon on top and basted with tomato gravy..Somebody stop me now. Bacon...call the cardiologist. And then just to prooooove I'm a southern girl some of that bacon jumped in the pot with the green beans. I'm in serious trouble now. I guess you can't take the bacon out of a southern girls vocabulary. I'm forgiving myself for this transgression this one time okay? love Scarlett

Happiness is a habit -cultivate it.

-Elbert Hubbard

Feeling a little oookie. I will NOT get the flu and that is my last word on the subject. Yesterday I went to sew with "The Crows" at Debbie's house. Food and fellowship was lovely. These ladies are prolific quilters with about 17 zillion tons of creativity and energy in the group. Here are some of the wonderful Show n' Tells we had yesterday with a comment or two from the peanut gallery. (you know me if the thought is in my head it is bound to spill out through my typing fingers on my blog.)

Suzanne made this from her stash. It is "Fall Frolic" from the book"40 Fabulous Quick Cut Quilts" by Eveyln Sloppy. Let me tell you, this book is FULL of great quilts. We have kitted about 4 or 5 quilts for my Silver Thimble Club with another one coming in February.. Great patterns! If you are going to go live on a deserted island and you can only take one book..This is the book. and Suz's quilt is wonderful!

Peggy's KILLER quilt...I want to steal it reeeeleeey bad.

This quilt was paper pieced by Debbie...holey moley....she made the whole dang quilt in 9 days. I don't think she slept or ate. And there are her cute knees and legs.....

This one is worth of a closer look don't cha think? Oh and I think she said she used 90 different fabbies.

Debbie again with her reindeer. It looks so much like her she loves that turquoise color! So does her mom (who is also NOW my mom...I got myself adopted!)

Debbie again and look at the little inner border. It was made from the scraps of the blocks cut with a specialty ruler. Good plan!

Debbie again! and in the foreground is a Kathy Schmitz stitchery Debbie is workin on. This is hurting my brain.

OK, NOW...here we have the little quilt made from the blasted scraps of the first one.

Shannon made this baby..sorry the photo was dark. I must have changed the setting or I was getting a snack...The borders of this quilt was made from the scraps as well. I'm seeing a trend here.

And here is another goodie from Suzanne. She made this from a magazine and she made it during Silver Thimble Club meeting but sorry I don't know the mag or the date. I doin good to remember all this...

Deb again. Made from Peggy Barkle's book "Curvasious Curves" published by C&T. Peggy is a friend of ours and Madame Prez of our guild.

Suzanne made three of these table runners from my Twinkle Twinle pattern. gosh! gee! blush!

Debbie again...HORSES no less..a gifty. She makes me need a nap.

Yes people..........Debbie....made from my pattern "Scrappy Nines"....more blushing...more gigglin' Great job Deb. Whos foot is that?


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Love one another and you will be happy, It's as simple and as difficult as that.

-Michael Leuing

Yes I did it...I really,really did it. I completely "checked out" "mind blanked the world, left the planet "Quilter" and MENTALLY CHECKED OUT. Did I get dressed..NOPE, it was PJ's all day and then PJ's all evening. Did I cook a meal...nope left overs with and giant bowl of popcorn. Did I sew a stitch? Nope not one. What? I sew everyday but not yesterday. Did I watch TV. Nope..not one single show. Did I plant the dang pansies that are sitting in their little pots screaming to get some more room to grow? NOPE. Did I read emails NOPE. What in the heck did I accomplish yesterday? See books below! I literally "CHECKED OUT". And I'm not sorry either!


What can I say? A day with a Pat Conroy book is a good day...and then there is "The Help" I did not finish it but I'm LOVIN IT!! Maybe I'll check out later tonight like about 5:30!

I read every day but I rarely read ALL DAY. Reading, one of the GREATEST PLEASURES ON THE PLANET. Check out sometime it does a body and mind GOOD ,GOOD, GOOD.

SAVE THE PLANET EARTH....its the only one with Chocolate!

-Author Unknown

I went upstairs to sew with full intentions of working on some UFO's that have reeeely been buggin me. When I do a guild talk I bring around 50 quilts with me! Wonderful eye candy!! There are a couple of projects in my lecture that are not quilted and it bugs me like crazy. The quilts are wonderful and are very well received every time I show them...but they are not quilted yet. They get WONKED AROUND, a technical term for man handled, and they are not quilted yet!!!! I'm sure they are pushed and stretched out of shape because THEY ARE NOT QUILTED YET. So I set myself on the task of finishing borders, backing and binding for these three quilts. They are off to be quilted next week. I'm taking up a collection outside my local grocery store to pay for this. I'll dress myself up and act like a pitiful quilter maybe I can collect some $$$$ what do you think?

These three quilts are all trades I participated in with my sewing group the "CROWS." Each quilt is wonderful and scrappy, just the way I like it uh huh uh huh. I slapped (not really slapped there was measuring involved) on the borders and made backings and bindings all day. I was throwing fabric around my sewing room like a mad woman but now the project is done and these kids are off to the spa to get a quilting magic makeover. Then I will be binding my brains out for several good nights of TV watching with Mr. Quilt Boy. I'm so happy to get these quilts off my "guilt list". I'm so sorry they have been mistreated.

Aren't they wonderful???


I think I will give the socks quilt to Mr. Quilt Boy as he has certainly sacrificed a sock or two to the "eaten by the dryer" story.

These stars have a name...which I cannot repeat for you. It is NOT NICE. There was a lot of whining and complaining from the group when we did this trade. The stars are paper pieced. Need I say more??? "Quilting in heaven paper piecing in HELL". Actually this is the quilt that made (forced) me to come to peace with paper piecing. I like to paper piece now, but I sure hated it back then....oh my such language came from the group! I'm blushing.

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.
E.E. Cummings

I have had several emails and requests for an explanation of the Rapid Fire Ruler. This is a specialty ruler that has all the components and steps for making a Hunters Star block with NO Y seams...did you hear that...NO Y SEAMS. It is made by Deb Tucker/ Studio 180 designs. This girl is a genius. I want to know what kind of committee lives in her head that thinks up this stuff. I'm so dang impressed (can't you tell how impressed i am). I digress.

Ok so a reeeeeely neat -o feature of the block is that she has upsized all the measurements so at the end of the day...you square the block up to perfection. I love it. The points are sharp and the stars come out perfect every time!!! You can't screw this thing up people! I promise.

We are going to make a quilt with the ruler in January. This month we made a table runner....dang it was super fun. I'm easily entertained I admit it.

Think of me as your little fun tester. Always out there looking for fun toys for quilters!!!!!

Here is the table runner (I think I have posted this before)


Here is Miz Jackie's version of the table runner. You can see how we played with the arrangement of the blocks.... I heart this.. I heart Jackie too!

And here is part of what will be Sarah's quilt. We were anxious to play with the arrangement of the blocks. There are many variations. See how the four blocks come to gether in the middle. These are not sewn yet but if they were...the center points would be happlily married forever. Just like me and Quilt Boy.

You can get the ruler from these two stores in the Atlanta area just give them a call (don't know if they have notions loaded onto their web sites) and they will ship a roo the thing right to ya. I told them you might me calling!

Little Quilts 770-578-6727
Sweet Home Quilt Co. 678-413-1611

We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails. Author unknown

I want you all to meet a new friend. This is Beth. Beth is a gorgeous, vivacious, fun loving quilter. She is also a breast cancer survivor (one year). She had a double mastectomy and went through all the chemo and radiation and is now on the other side of it. She wears her pink breast cancer tee shirt with pride. Beth stood up in front of our group and told everyone to get their mammograms she also showed the quilt she made for her oncologist which is lovely. Beth informed us that she has two sets of tah tah's...the ones she is wearing in this photo and her VA VA VOOM tah tahs.

My Sister in Love brought Beth to Silver Thimble Quilters and now we all love Beth and I am so honored to have her as a part of our group. She is also a long arm quilter who is excellent at the machine. If you need any quilts longarmed I can put you in touch with her. I can't tell you how much I admire her positive attitude and enthusiasm. She has not let cancer get the best of her and that is an understatement. I think that her attitude will not only serve her well but will also be a source of encouragement to anyone who is lucky enough to meet her.. When I grow up I want to be Beth! Don't cha just love it when God puts special people in our lives? Thank you Beth you are a tribute to all women. and by the way can you wear the va va voom tah tah's next month????

The above quote is for Beth...who certainly adjusted her sails!!!!!!!

Life is a verb, not a noun.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Another busy weekend with Silver Thimble Quilters. All three classes hit the door, ready to go. We had a lovely lunch provided for the Friday day time class. Marilyn had a big birthday and her sisters and daughter brought a fabulous lunch to the whole class! She thought she was getting birthday cake and in they walked with a feast! Now that was special! We had so much fun. Everyone managed to get a lot of sewing in and we had some great show and tells.

This is Karin's Orange Crush quilt. I swear I almost passed out!

The Saturday class was full of surprises. We had visitors from the West side of Atlanta who brightened our day. We enjoyed them so much and look forward to a return visit. We had a precious visitor Babette, who is Sheila's dog. She is under the weather and needed to be near her mom. She sat and slept in her doggie stroller the whole time. (Who knew they make doggie strolers with CUP holders and everything!)

Sarah cut her finger with a rotary cutter. dang that was icky. I think the bad part of it for her was that it slowed her down from her sewing! I cut my finger on Thursday so now Sarah and I are blood sisters (literally). I will be going to Sams to get a huge first aid kit TODAY. I host so many large groups of quilters I really should have one with my traveling road show of supplies!

Many of the Thimbles worked with the Rapid Fire Ruler and made Hunters Star blocks for a table runner. Man is this ruler amazing and sooooo much fun to use. The blocks turn out wonderfully precise and NO Y SEAMS..WOOOOO HOOOOO.


My friend Nancy brought me some Red Licorice from Australia. This stuff is so good. I'm talking eat the whole bag good. Better than wonderful...Thank you Nancy and my rear end would like to thank you too. We will be going for a walk in about 10 minutes! It is the least I can do since there is more licorice in my sewing room.

My precious Mary Beth was home this weekend. She picked up a dress to wear to a formal with her boyfriend next weekend. I had to adjust spaghetti straps for her. I did a passible job considering I would rather have a root canal without anesthesia than do anything that resembles garment construction or tailoring. I hope those straps don't BLOW when she is dancing next weekend! That would just be wrong on so many levels. Maybe I should have given her some safety pins.

Here is SOME of the absolute loveliness we enjoyed this weekend. Will post some more tomorrow.


This little beauty was made by my SIL I think I showed it in a previous post. Well, it is quilted and ready for her to give it to me!!!! teehee. me thinks not...


And here is Chris. She made my both from my patterns Wrapped in Comfort and White Chocolate for her king sized bed....Oh I'm so honored. She is a wonderful quilter and a blessing in my life!. Sleep well Chris! They are beautiful.

MORE LATER MY FRIENDS. I've got a list a mile long for today. (so what is new)

I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for the friends who have given me a heart full of joy. -Charles R. Swindoll

I have been an absent blogger, and I have missed posting and reading all the blogs. The truth is that I have a large project that has been consuming my time, my mind (so little of it even works these days) and my energy. AND I LOVE IT. The committee that lives in my brain has been in full session, calling meetings in the middle of the night all of which are quilt related. The design process is so much fun but, dang I gotta get a grip!


Yesterday I went sewing with my small group. We had a fantastic day at Ann's house.Terrific lunch and tons of good girl friend fun. I want you to meet Julie (mother of the bride from earlier posts). Julie is a wonderful friend, great lady, funny, and she makes a pumpkin cake that will make you want to "slap yo mama" as we say in the south. Julie has been quilting since 2002 and is a devote of Bonnie Hunter,... you know frugal. She uses every single scrap of fabric and makes outstanding quilts! Yesterday she admitted to the group that she had NEVER changed her rotary cutter blade. After they picked me up off the floor and the paramedics left with the oxygen tanks they emptied after reviving me....I snapped this photo of Julie. I am giving her a 5 pack of blades...that should last her a life time Gotta get a grip on this girl.

This little guy came to visit in the afternoon. Let me tell you we were women reduced to l playing paddy cake, cooing, making all kinds of noises, songs...and then the best we decided to play dress the baby. Fat quarters on his head and around his neck. I took 3,785 pictures of Mr. Austin. Did I take any pictures of the quilting were doing? NOPE? Was I anxious to show you the stitchery I'm working on NOPE! It was all about the baby...I gotta get a grip.






Off to the sewing room for another marathon. I'm taking this with me. Photos of quilting tomorrow..I promise.


As I said I gotta get a grip.

Your heart often knows things before your mind does. -Polly Adler

Boy isn't the above quote true of so many things in life! It is so true for me now, my heart knows I have to make a few changes and revamp the way I've been thinking lately but my head is holding me back.

I made the decision to sit this Quilt Market out and concentrate on some big projects. I know it was the right decision but right now I'm missing the excitement of Market opening. Apparently I'm in good company as many are not attending Fall Market this year. There are usually 26-28 aisles at market..this year there are 17. Dang that is a thunderbolt! Sign of the times me thinks! I still miss it.

I've been busy with teaching and new designs taking wonderful shape in my studio. I have three back to back classes tomorrow at Sweet Home Quilt Co. I'm really looking forward to each group of quilters. Beginners, Intermediate and Beginning machine applique'. I adore the way everyone is so excited to learn to quilt...opening those new supplies just like my first graders did during the first days of school. Nothing like a brand new box of crayons or a new rotary cutter and mat right?????

When I was sewing on Wednesday I was thinking about sewing organization. Do you begin a project by laying out your fabbies and deciding which fabric would look best with others. Do you label and stack your strips ever so neatly so as to match each one to another? Maybe you even label and put them in baggies. Do you spend time changing fabrics and buying fabrics so that they play nicely with the other fabrics...or do you buy a "line" and know that the fabric designer has already made those decision for you...then you can jump in there and decide which fabrics should lay next to the others.....

I'm like that tooo. See here is the proof !!!!!

Why is it that throwing strips up in the air and sewing them together as they land under the machine is so difficult???? Why is that so? Please answer my cry. You will help me find peace on earth if I can solve this mystery.

Love,
Lost in Strips Pat

"Shall We Dance"
-The King and I

This is a sing a long post!

Shall we dance? dee, dah, dee
On a bright cloud of music shall we fly? dum, dum dummm



Shall we dance? dum, dum dum,
Shall we then say "Goodnight" and mean "Goodbye"? dee, dah. dee



Or perchance,
When the last little star has left the sky,
Shall we still be together
With our arms around each other
And shall you be my new romance? dum, dee, dum



On the clear understanding
That this kind of thing can happen,
Shall we dance?
Shall we dance?
Shall we Dance?
dee, dah, deeeee



Twelve hours of straight sewing and still dancin!